Ghosts of Desire
by Walks With Starz
Summary: see what comes to pass with julian and jenny when she obliviously gives in to the dark workings of the shadow world


Righto, you may think this is just another take-off from the Forbidden Game book……..and it is!!! Anyway, I've the faintest idea of what to start with and where to go, so just bear with me if it gets too repetitious or annoying and tell me? How you might ask…well Ken, it's simple. Read my story, go to the bottom of the page, press….you got a pen to write this down??? **_REVIEW_**…isn't that just _uncanny_??? ; )

Also just so you know, this is _right_ after the part where they got into the house and Julian and Jenny are…………………………………………..alone ; ) wink wink ; )

OOOOOOOoohhhhhHhHhHhhhhh, wait a minute, coffeez seconds later and after an extended and satisfying sip………….uuhhuhuhhhuhhuhh, coffeeeee : P ………..drools profusely…

…..ahem…so anyhoooo, I just want to say that I'm sorry for kinda giving up on my other story 'Beyond the Paper House', I really don't think it was that good, but I really don't like stopping something right in the middle like that. Why did I stop do you ask? Well do you? The mighty llama commands the answer from thee!!! That's what I thought…….So I got caught up in exams and stuff. Honestly, I just lost the writing…the "_plot" _or the _"GROOVE"_, as you younguns would say…: ) So without further ado because I've just wasted 2 minutes of your time and 5 minutes of mine, on with the story!!!!!!!!

P.S. the little green people in my eyebrows say "hi"

Right, transported into paper house, discovered where they are, Zach thinking (imagine that), Michael giggling like a prairie girl, and on and so forth…..oooooh, the suspense is _killing_ me…; )

OK, I'll make this easier on both of us…..friends are already placed at specific points and Jenny's talking to Julian for the first time in the game….now I won't have to explain too much and you might understand my fathomless and insignificant ramble…let's just get into the juicy parts…..muahahahahahhahahahaahha!….HA!

And don't forget the guacamole!!!

(Sorry if I don't get the right quotes in, I lent the book to my friend and even though she only lives a mile away, I don't have a ride and it would be _unhealthy_ to walk…might burn off a _calorie_!!!)

"Jenny, ask me now. Wish for your deepest hearts desires. Now, I may never do this again!" Julian said, his voice lulling over her thoughts, soothing her tense mind in an array of elemental music.

"I-I…" Jenny's mind feebly attempted to fuse her scattered thoughts together, coming up short until a terminal picture of Tom flashed before her eyes. "I wish to have Tom back, and the others…_safely_" She finished sternly, back straight, her eyes desperately glaring into his. But as she looked into the strangers eyes, his unearthly colour like lucid sapphires shimmering in the calmness of the lustrous moonlight, she felt her erect spine slightly diminish, and Tom was momentarily, but utterly, forgotten.

He grimaced for an instant at the mere mention of _Tom_, but rapidly was replaced with a most charming smile. "Why of course, Jenny." He implied at the end, looking perfectly content just to hear her name upon his flawless lips.

Despair quickly engulfed Jenny's mind. 'How could he have given up so easily? He made the whole game with her in mind, he had said so before. Why should he just give up now?'

Quickly she changed priorities. 'No, no more thinking, he's giving you back all of your friends, why complain? I barely know this guy, maybe he thought I was different and now that he's met me he despises me? Sure, logical enough.'

Smug smile still lingering on his lips he parted them, "You wish of this?" He inquired until she earnestly nodded, desperately requiring a good shoulder to lean on. "Then it is done." He stated, but instead of bringing forth her friends, he instead produced a ring. A simple ring, nothing to fret over, just a circlet of gold. Yet there was _something_ about it, that you just wanted to examine and hold in your hand, just to feel the cold weight in your palm.

Jenny faltered, "What's this?" She asked dully, staring quizzically into his deep eyes.

Smile distinctly more profound he simply stated, "You forfeit." He stood triumphantly. Spotting the look of utter confusion and mixed rage, he went on, "You said you wanted all of your friends back safely, I even asked you if thus stood true and you confirmed it to the point. You give in, I take all."

"But-I didn't know!" Jenny burst out, feeling the first shock of the oblivious defeat. "It's not fair!" She ended defiantly.

"Jenny," He practically sang with suppressed joy, making positive to say her name yet again. "Jenny, _life_ isn't _fair_. If you assume it is, it will take its winnings and step ruthlessly over the futile, just like it always has."

"No." She said flatly, simply not accepting the truth for what it was worth. "_No._" Jenny repeated

in steadfast stubbornness. "You can't, I didn't even have a chance to play your petty game, you tricked

me-" She rambled on. "I didn't _know_."

"But you did say it, and that's all the rules go by." Julian explained plainly, but tactlessly. "So now you belong to-"

"_Tom_." Jenny finished his sentence with a flourish, but soon wish she hadn't. Militant emotion invaded his eyes, like a blue flame at its hottest, scorching into his life and soul.

"Oh _Tommy_." He sneered, almost baring his teethe in frustration. "Tommy!" He said louder this time, his elegant voice filling the parlour and enveloping Jenny in musical tones. "You want to see how your _Tommy _will turn out in the future _if_ you turn out to marry him?" Not waiting for a response he produced a mirror, a small mirror, but just enough to see small figures in it.

Recognizing an older Jenny, a faint smile appeared on her lips as she eyed herself all decked out in white, nervously applying a veil and final accessories to her wedding dress. Soon the picture faded and then came one of a mature Tom Lock, anxiously fixing his tux to a superb image.

Changing completely to whole darkness Jenny waited patiently, the image of her future and prosperity still fresh upon her mind until another came, one obviously later. She was desperately clinging to two children, tediously attempting to sign checks, vacuum, do dishes, cook, and tend an armful of kids all in a pathetic array of despair. Phone rings and she drops the dirty plate. Temporarily forgetting it, she picked the phone up, her face first turning the gruesome colour of chalk, then rapidly to pink, and with the final finale of a nice burgundy.

The teen-age Jenny just stared on, she didn't hear a word of what was going on, but she knew. An instinct just told her that was her husband, who had just called for divorce.

The miniature movie rolled onward soon showing court trials for the separation, her kids crying as they were forced to be with their father who now looked like he could pass for a full time stoner and work at a local Hooters just to watch the girls for minimum wage.

Presently tears of shock and disbelief sprang up to Jenny's eyes. Not desiring to view onward she instead glanced in the direction of her more current issue, but to find him not there, the mirror somehow miraculously suspended in air.

Whirling around Jenny spotted him in the corner, wrathful scowl now gone, replaced with a satisfied, knowledgeable smirk. "Is this true?" She asked bluntly, not wanting to beat around the bush.

"It would come to pass." He started, clearing wanting to go on. "But not now, not that you're with me." Obviously not interested with this current subject any longer he moved forward, arm extended and palm up with a petit ring of gold on it. "You have already answered my question before if this was your path, and thus holds affirmative."

"But I didn't know!" Jenny persisted, but to no effect what so ever. "It doesn't stand true now!"

"No use," He said, just as stubborn. "You said it then, you meant it then, all that matters in this game."

Jenny faltered, mind struggling to find any alibi, anything for an escape, even one so narrow and deceiving as cheating. All she got was finding herself staring at Julian, an alien emotion collecting in the pit of her stomach. Realizing what she was doing, she quickly directed her eyes downward and felt his presence increase.

"So the ceremony?" He asked, now in front of her, just close enough to feel his cool presence.

Instead of an answer, Jenny instead inquired another question. "Who are you, really?"

Tilting his beautiful head, small strands of soft hair falling flawlessly over his eyebrows, he thought momentarily. Resuming proper position he finally answered directly. "I'm a shadow man." Spotting definite questions in her eyes, he explained further, "I can mend, control, and become one with the shadows. I can make anything I want, it's all in my ability." Smugness showing like an aristocrat at a local trailer park, he persisted. "Just think Jenny, _anything_, anything you've ever wanted right at your finger-tips. Maybe you'll fancy the lost Arabic rubies to dilate your hair." He said suggestively, reaching out like a mis-understood poet towards her hair. "Or possibly you would simply enjoy a long walk upon the beaches of Kantu? Or savour your favourite foods, not this Chinese stuff." He snuffed, wrinkling his nose delicately at the mere thought of _Tom's_ favourite food. "How about-"

"Not interested." Jenny interjected with a lethal tone in the core of her voice. "I won't…_can't_ go with you." She spat in his direction, though not attempting to sustain any type of eye contact, in pitiable distress of what she may see there.

"That's expected," He spoke these words with a kind of insane calm, in no doubt knowledgeable of what to act upon. Then moving from sight into the opaque shadows, Jenny stood utterly still, too frightened to persist upon the subject.

Hearing commotion behind her, Jenny turned to investigate, but was stopped doing so. She felt his frigid hands upon her arms, demanding but not brutal, holding her in place.

A slight whimper just dying to escape her lips, Jenny kept deathly still, feeling his cool breath on her neck, soon followed by an even colder sensation slip onto her finger. Reluctantly looking down Jenny examined the burnished circlet, shining with a vitreous glow in the dull luminosity of the dismal parlour.


End file.
